Turnbull calls for analysis of NBN targets

Coalition communications spokesman
Malcolm Turnbull
called for an independent analysis of NBN Co’s rollout targets after the company building the national broadband network conceded the project was running three months late.

A crisis meeting of NBN Co’s board at the Hotel Realm in Canberra on Thursday cut targets to roll out the high-speed network past houses and apartments by up to 44 per cent, while appointing Ten Network Holdings director Siobhan McKenna as new chair.

Instead of passing 341,000 homes by June 30 as envisaged seven months ago, the network will be available to between 190,000 and 220,000 premises.

For existing homes, the previous target of 286,000 homes will be replaced by a range of between 155,000 and 175,000 premises by the end of June. Where NBN Co expected to reach 55,000 homes in new developments, it now said it would reach between 35,000 and 45,000.

The delay is a blow to the federal Labor government, which wants the network rolled out quickly to help its prospects at the September election.

Turnbull labelled the move ‘appalling behaviour’

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Mr Turnbull said the announcement, which was overwhelmed by Labor’s leadership tensions on Thursday, was “appalling behaviour" by the company.

“I have no confidence in the ability of that organisation to complete their project because they’ve never been able to set a target that they can keep," he said.

“This is a company that is as ineffective at rolling out fibre as it is at managing its public relations."

NBN Co chief executive
Mike Quigley
said he was disappointed in the delay, made public after talks with construction businesses over the past month. “NBN Co is taking responsibility and, as the CEO, I am committed to recovering the delay," he said. “At some point . . . you have to make a judgment call."

Executives from NBN Co and the major construction companies – Transfield, Syntheo, Visionstream and Silcar – have attempted to renegotiate ways of making the original schedule in recent days.

Industry sources claim the new targets indicate a more conservative approach from NBN Co compared with the revised figures offered by the construction businesses. Mr Quigley said construction companies had promised to hire more staff and buy more equipment in speed construction.

Quigley denies skills issues

NBN Co took direct control of construction in the Northern Territory from Syntheo, a Lend Lease-Service Stream joint venture, this week to speed up the rollout, and said it would offer some skilled labour to other construction companies to remove any bottlenecks.

But Mr Quigley denied there were skills issues involved in the project.

“This is not about labour rates, it’s not about labour shortages; there are enough workers in Australia to build this network," he said. “It’s about our contractors putting the right people in the right place, at the right time."